Obamacare Rates to Skyrocket 50-75 Percent in Arizona

Arizona’s Obamacare marketplace rates are set to skyrocket as the state’s two remaining insurers in the marketplace raise their rates 50-75 percent.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona will sell marketplace plans in every county but Maricopa, hiking rates up to 51 percent while Centene Corp. will sell “Ambetter” plans in every county in the state with rate increases of up to 74.5 percent, according to the Arizona Republic.

The amount customers of the Obamacare exchanges pay vary depending on age, coverage levels, and income–all factors that determine how much customers receive in subsidies that offset the costs of premiums.

Seven out of ten Arizonans reportedly get subsidized coverage.

According to the Department of Insurance, a 40-year-old single Maricopa County resident who does not use tobacco would be charged an average rate of $475 per month for a mid-tier “silver” plan before subsidies, while a 40-year-old couple with two children would pay $1,422 per month for a family plan before subsidies.

Most Arizona residents will not have a choice of insurer due to six insurers leaving the Obamacare marketplace in Arizona for 2017, citing financial losses.

Only one county in the state of Arizona, Pima County, will have a choice of insurer between Centene and Blue Cross Blue Shield. But Blue Cross Blue Shield will only offer its “catastrophic” plan to those looking for insurance in Pima County.

Arizona is not the only state where its insurers are raising their rates on the exchanges.

Insurers on Michigan’s exchange are seeing double-digit increases in their premiums, while in Minnesota, state regulators allowed rate increases from 50-67 percent.